Lentil and Bean Vegetarian Chilli

Hello! It has been such a long time since I have posted anything on this website, unfortunately, due to work commitments and other life events I just no longer had the time. But with everything that is happening in the world at the moment due to coronavirus, my work has unfortunately stopped for the time being and I find myself with not a lot to fill my days so I thought I would get back to cooking and baking and posting my recipes for you to enjoy. It has been a little challenging to get food supplies over the past few weeks due to lockdown and we have tried to avoid going to the big supermarkets as my husband is asthmatic. Luckily, we have a little local shop that we go to for necessities and has been quite well stocked. There are still things that are a bit difficult to get hold of but nothing that we can’t live without for a while.

The first recipe I thought I would share with you is a vegetarian chilli.

We tend to have vegetarian meals a few times a week and are finding it especially helpful at the moment as we have low meat supplies in stock. This meatless chilli is really good and I honestly prefer it to one with meat in. It’s flavoursome, healthy and filling. The combination of the beans and the lentils work well as a meat substitute- I promise you’ll love it! I adapted the recipe a little this time as I have no red kidney beans in stock but I do have black beans, so I used them instead and they made a really great alternative. It also uses peppers and onion which really helps fill it out and adds to the great flavour combination.

I am a bit of a lightweight when it comes to spice so I don’t tend to put a whole lot of chilli in if you prefer yours on the hot side make sure you add more chilli powder to yours.

Here is what you will need to make the chilli:

1 onion

2 bell peppers

1 clove garlic  (I use Lazy Garlic in a jar!)

3 teaspoons chilli powder (add more if you like it hot)

2 teaspsoons paprika

2 teaspoons cumin seeds (or you can use ground cumin)

3 teaspoons oregano

1 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon tomato puree

400g passata

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin green or brown lentils

1 tin black beans/ kidney beans

Pinch of sugar

So the first thing you need to do is to chop the onion, peppers and garlic into small pieces and place them in a large saucepan or frying pan over a medium heat.

Fry them for about five minutes until they have softened. Next add your cumin, oregano, chilli powder and paprika then mix in your tomato puree and stir until it is all well combined.

Next, you need to drain the beans and lentils and give them a rinse. Add them to your frying pan and stir everything together so the beans and lentils are combined well with the herbs and spices. Allow this to cook for about a minute to let everything become infused with the spices, then add the chopped tomatoes and the passata. Next, add the cinnamon and a pinch of sugar. Stir everything together and bring to the boil. Once it is boiling, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

And that’s it! It is a really simple and easy recipe to make and only takes a few minutes. You can enjoy it on its own or you can cook some white or brown rice to accompany it and make it go further. We actually have this with tacos, which is really delicious! Sprinkle some dairy free or lactose free cheese and enjoy!